Welsh Distillery recognised for best gin in the UK

Dyfi Distillery in Mid Wales, one of Britain’s smallest, has been recognised in the Great British Food Awards 2017 for the best gin produced in the UK.

Dyfi Distillery, based at Corris Craft Centre near Machynlleth, collected the prestigious award for its Pollination Gin, one of the few gins in the world produced from mostly foraged botanical ingredients, which the judges described as “seriously beautiful”. The ingredients are gathered within the Dyfi Valley UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in the foothills of Snowdonia, an area renowned for having some of the most diverse flora, cleanest water, darkest skies and lowest populations in Europe.

The distillery was set up in 2016 with the benefit of the Welsh Government Food Business Investment Scheme by the Cameron brothers, Pete, who moved to the Dyfi Valley 35 years ago, and Danny, a long-standing drinks industry professional and international-standard judge.

Pollination Gin is made form 29 botanicals, of which 20 are foraged within the UNESCO Dyfi Biosphere. As the name suggests, eight of the foraged botanicals are floral.

Danny said: “Our passion is to produce an exceptional gin of world-class quality, which could come from nowhere else. We were a beneficiary of the Food Business Investment Scheme, and we find Welsh Government very supportive since we set up in 2016, and it’s been quite a year. We’ve been so busy trying to keep up with demand that we haven’t really had a chance to take this all in.”

Production is limited, and each bottle is hand signed and lot numbered.

Dyfi Distillery has already won The Independent’s IndyBest Award for the Best New Gin in 2017 for its Hibernation Gin and no less than seven medals at this year’s International Wine and Spirit Competition.

The Welsh Government’s Food Business Investment Scheme (FBIS) is designed to help primary producers of agricultural products and businesses that do first and/or second stage processing activities in Wales. The scheme can provide capital investment and other support to projects where at least 90 per cent eligible agricultural products are processed.

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